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K. F.

The Outsider

By:
Stephen King

Narrated by:
Will Patton

Length: 18 hrs and 41 mins

Unabridged

Overall

4.5 out of 5 stars
21,956

Performance

4.5 out of 5 stars
20,207

Story

4.5 out of 5 stars
20,111

An 11-year-old boy's violated corpse is found in a town park. Eyewitnesses and fingerprints point unmistakably to one of Flint City's most popular citizens. He is Terry Maitland, Little League coach, English teacher, husband, and father of two girls. Detective Ralph Anderson, whose son Maitland once coached, orders a quick and very public arrest. Maitland has an alibi, but Anderson and the district attorney soon add DNA evidence to go with the fingerprints and witnesses. Their case seems ironclad.

Starts great, but lacks at the end.

Excellent

Excellent and gripping novel, fantastic performance by narrator. However, volume level is all over the place. Expect to be adjusting the volume every 2 - 3 minutes.

0 of 8 people found this review helpful

Mr. Murder

By:
Dean Koontz

Narrated by:
Jay O. Sanders

Length: 14 hrs and 43 mins

Unabridged

Overall

4.5 out of 5 stars
866

Performance

4.5 out of 5 stars
746

Story

4 out of 5 stars
745

Martin Stillwater has a vivid imagination. It charms his loving wife, delights his two little daughters, and gives him all the inspiration he needs to write his highly successful mystery novels. But maybe Martin’s imagination is a bit too vivid.

5 out of 5 stars

Great Koontz!

Mediocre

Overall

3 out of 5 stars

Performance

3 out of 5 stars

Story

3 out of 5 stars

Reviewed: 07-01-18

Chock full of Koontz' standard cliches and themes. The plot isn't particularly engaging - or maybe that's just the droning narrator. The protagonist is an imbecile and never approaches anything in a smart way.

One of the major plot elements in this book is that two characters look very similar and no one can tell them apart. They just happen to have the same hair cut? And no one can figure out how to tell them apart. Gee, what about with a password, or shave one of their heads?

The Singularity Trap

By:
Dennis E. Taylor

Narrated by:
Ray Porter

Length: 11 hrs and 22 mins

Unabridged

Overall

4.5 out of 5 stars
10,696

Performance

5 out of 5 stars
10,032

Story

4.5 out of 5 stars
10,004

When Ivan Pritchard signs on as a newbie aboard the
Mad Astra, it's his final, desperate stab at giving his wife and children the life they deserve. He can survive the hazing of his crewmates, and how many times, really, can near-zero g make you vomit? But there's another challenge looming out there, in the farthest reaches of human exploration, that will test every man, woman and AI on the ship - and will force Ivan to confront the very essence of what makes him human.

5 out of 5 stars

Good comibination

Mediocre

Overall

3 out of 5 stars

Performance

4 out of 5 stars

Story

3 out of 5 stars

Reviewed: 06-23-18

Definitely not another Bobiverse. This short novel is primarily a vehicle for the author to express his views on climate change, which I *agree with* but don't need to be constantly clubbed in the face with.

The narrative is pretty interesting for a while, but as it starts to expand and be told from more perspectives, the primary objective gets muddied. Once we stop learning new things from the main character's perspective, the novel loses all tension because it's not even clear what the threat is or how dangerous it is. Things are gradually made clear in a wholly anticlimactic way and the actual climax is both extremely cliche and underwhelming.

This novel feels rushed, and I assume the author was pressured to release early so as to ride on the success of the much better Bobiverse titles.

Ray Porter is great as usual, but the audio mixing is weird. In many scenes, the main character is mixed very low and is hard to hear compared to other characters? Why?!

0 of 1 people found this review helpful

Galaxy's Edge, Part II

Galaxy's Edge, Book 2

By:
Jason Anspach,
Nick Cole

Narrated by:
R.C. Bray

Length: 15 hrs and 23 mins

Unabridged

Overall

4.5 out of 5 stars
1,691

Performance

5 out of 5 stars
1,594

Story

4.5 out of 5 stars
1,592

Legion Dark Ops calls upon Chhun, Wraith, and the survivors of Victory Company to form an elite Kill Team of legionnaires in the aftermath of the Battle of Kublar. Their mission is clear: find and eliminate those responsible for the Kublar disaster. Standing between them and their objective are a maze of corrupt Republic officials, a spy on the verge of losing himself in deep cover, and the Zhee - a murderous species that will stop at nothing. But the biggest threat of all might be the truth they seek to uncover - a truth that could ignite a revolution. And engulf the galaxy in flames.

Galaxy's Edge 1 was Solid, Number 2 Not So Much

Star Wars ripoff

Overall

2 out of 5 stars

Performance

4 out of 5 stars

Story

1 out of 5 stars

Reviewed: 06-15-18

What could have been a perfectly respectable franchise is ruined by the authors' rampant and shameless mimicry of Star Wars. Ships and characters are lifted directly from Star Wars, only with different names. A key scene is taken almost verbatim from Return of the Jedi. The central plot involves an evil man with mystical Jedi-like powers attempting to overthrow the Republic and make himself Emperor. ALL of the sci-fi jargon is taken directly from Star Wars. Durasteel, deflectors, bucketheads, anything that isn't copyrighted. The bad guys fly Tri-fighters instead of TIE fighters. Seriously?!

The narrative is chaotic and sloppy. As with the previous novel, you have two different books in wildly different styles that have been duct-taped together in the middle. The two authors seem to have traded places this time, so the meandering stream of conciousness takes up the first half and the straight-cut military conflict takes up the second. Most of the second half of the first novel is entirely disregarded. The Han Solo knockoff and his Indelible Six crew are mentioned once at the start but never appear again.

Derivative trash. Don't give them your money.

3 of 6 people found this review helpful

Zero Hour

Expeditionary Force, Book 5

By:
Craig Alanson

Narrated by:
R. C. Bray

Length: 17 hrs and 20 mins

Unabridged

Overall

5 out of 5 stars
16,824

Performance

5 out of 5 stars
15,862

Story

4.5 out of 5 stars
15,787

United Nations Special Operations Command sent an elite expeditionary force of soldiers and pilots out on a simple recon mission, and somehow along the way they sparked an alien civil war. Now the not-at-all-merry band of pirates is in desperate trouble, again. Their stolen alien starship is falling apart, thousands of light years from home. The ancient alien AI they nicknamed Skippy is apparently dead, and even if they can by some miracle revive him, he might never be the same.

Monkeys kick A**, but......

Okay but no plot progression

Overall

3 out of 5 stars

Performance

5 out of 5 stars

Story

3 out of 5 stars

Reviewed: 05-19-18

The story has not moved forward in several books. Things go wrong and the Merry Band of Pirates deals with them, but there's no real plot progression whatsoever. Author is clearly padding these titles with fluff to sell more books.

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

Columbus Day

Expeditionary Force, Book 1

By:
Craig Alanson

Narrated by:
R.C. Bray

Length: 16 hrs and 23 mins

Unabridged

Overall

4.5 out of 5 stars
24,340

Performance

5 out of 5 stars
23,175

Story

4.5 out of 5 stars
23,123

The Ruhar hit us on Columbus Day. There we were, innocently drifting along the cosmos on our little blue marble, like the Native Americans in 1492. Over the horizon came ships of a technologically advanced, aggressive culture, and BAM! There went the good old days, when humans got killed only by each other. So, Columbus Day. It fits. When the morning sky twinkled again, this time with Kristang starships jumping in to hammer the Ruhar, we thought we were saved.

Brilliant, Funny, Clever... a Sci Fi must have

Mediocre, then great

Overall

4 out of 5 stars

Performance

5 out of 5 stars

Story

4 out of 5 stars

Reviewed: 04-03-18

Dull and uninspired until it introduces the character Skippy about two-thirds of the way through. Then it practically changes genres and really hits its stride. R.C. Bray does a fantastic job bringing Skippy and the other characters to life.

A Gift of Time

By:
Jerry Merritt

Narrated by:
Christopher Lane

Length: 11 hrs and 45 mins

Unabridged

Overall

4.5 out of 5 stars
5,540

Performance

5 out of 5 stars
5,233

Story

4.5 out of 5 stars
5,221

When Micajah Fenton discovers a crater in his front yard with a broken time glider in the bottom and a naked, virtual woman on his lawn, he delays his plans to kill himself. While helping repair the marooned time traveler's glider, Cager realizes it can return him to his past to correct a mistake that had haunted him his entire life. As payment for his help, the virtual creature living in the circuitry of the marooned glider, sends Cager back in time as his 10-year-old self.

The Gift of Time is a Gift!

Far too cliche

A story that starts out fairly interesting and then collapses into the biggest cliches in time travel fiction. By the end I was banging my head against the desk.

All of the author's novels are self-published on Kindle, with hilariously bad covers. I'm guessing he self-published this audio book at well.

1 of 2 people found this review helpful

The Dark Tower I

The Gunslinger

By:
Stephen King

Narrated by:
George Guidall

Length: 7 hrs and 20 mins

Unabridged

Overall

4 out of 5 stars
21,610

Performance

4.5 out of 5 stars
19,659

Story

4 out of 5 stars
19,632

In the first book of this brilliant series, Stephen King introduces listeners to one of his most powerful creations: Roland of Gilead, The Last Gunslinger. He is a haunting figure, a loner on a spellbinding journey into good and evil. In his desolate world, which frighteningly mirrors our own, Roland tracks The Man in Black, encounters an enticing woman named Alice, and begins a friendship with the boy from New York named Jake.

4 out of 5 stars

A long prologue

Bad

Overall

1 out of 5 stars

Performance

4 out of 5 stars

Story

1 out of 5 stars

Reviewed: 02-01-18

I don't understand why this title is popular. Eccentric, obtuse prose, incomprehensible characters with baffling motivations. King drags us through a seemingly drug-induced rambling vision of a wasteland where most things are meaningless, with little hints into a lore that is not particularly compelling. Spend your credits elsewhere; King has far better titles.

The Dark Forest

By:
Cixin Liu,
Joel Martinsen - translator

Narrated by:
P. J. Ochlan

Length: 22 hrs and 36 mins

Unabridged

Overall

4.5 out of 5 stars
4,498

Performance

4.5 out of 5 stars
4,117

Story

4.5 out of 5 stars
4,110

This near-future trilogy is the first chance for English-speaking listeners to experience this multiple-award-winning phenomenon from Cixin Liu, China's most beloved science fiction author. In
The Dark Forest, Earth is reeling from the revelation of a coming alien invasion - in just four centuries' time. The aliens' human collaborators may have been defeated, but the presence of the sophons, the subatomic particles that allow Trisolaris instant access to all human information, means that Earth's defense plans are totally exposed to the enemy.

Amazing

Terrible narrator

Overall

1 out of 5 stars

Performance

1 out of 5 stars

Story

3 out of 5 stars

Reviewed: 11-01-17

The narration for this audiobook has been slowed down to increase the duration of the audio, and the voice sounds like it has been digitally modulated for more consistent pacing or intonation. In other words, the narrator sounds like text-to-speech and drolls on in an unbearably slow monotone.

There is almost no inflection in the narration. The narrator often does not change his voice for different characters, and when he does, the change is extremely subtle. This makes it hard to follow conversations, and hard to pay attention to the narration in general.

I don't know why they didn't stick with the narrator who recorded the previous book, as he did a perfectly adequate job. The new guy is absolutely atrocious and unbearable to listen to. Avoid at all costs.

5 of 5 people found this review helpful

The Three-Body Problem

By:
Cixin Liu

Narrated by:
Luke Daniels

Length: 13 hrs and 26 mins

Unabridged

Overall

4.5 out of 5 stars
8,525

Performance

4.5 out of 5 stars
7,776

Story

4.5 out of 5 stars
7,781

Set against the backdrop of China’s Cultural Revolution, a secret military project sends signals into space to establish contact with aliens. An alien civilization on the brink of destruction captures the signal and plans to invade Earth. Meanwhile, on Earth, different camps start forming, planning to either welcome the superior beings and help them take over a world seen as corrupt, or to fight against the invasion.

Hard science fiction

Don't bother (see full review)

Overall

3 out of 5 stars

Performance

4 out of 5 stars

Story

3 out of 5 stars

Reviewed: 10-31-17

This is a decent novel with some interesting concepts. However, I do not recommend listening to it. The Three-Body Problem is the first in a series, but the next novel is read by an atrocious narrator who is no better than a text-to-speech engine. This novel ends on a cliffhanger, but the next novel is un-listenable. You're better off spending your money on something else.

Cixin Liu's novel contains some interesting sci-fi concepts and has a moderately engaging plot, but the narrative tends to dawdle and falter from time to time and is anti-climatic in some places. Luke Daniels does a mostly passable job; in some parts is narration is too dull, but there's a section in the middle where you can tell he got really into the performance and that part is the most fun to listen to.

I would still recommend this novel if it were not for the fact that the next entry is narrated by a lifeless robot instead of Mr. Daniels.